test rides around the shop’s personal test track (the parking
lot around the building), and the reactions are always visceral. Sam’s motto is that to properly set a customer up with a
bike, they have to try many of them to see what they really
like. To that end, he stocks 50-plus bikes of every different
kind.

THE GENESIS OF THE SHOP

It started when the original proprietor—not surprisingly,
named Myron Hankins—returned from a trip to Costa Rica
in the 1970s, and someone gave him the idea to open up
a moped shop. From 1976 to 1983, Myron had great success. He opened his second store in Lake Forest, California,
and ran that store, letting his wife run the original store in
Anaheim. He went from selling 80 mopeds a month during
the boom of the moped to less than six per month with her
running the store. He had to sell his store in Lake Forest and
return to Anaheim to repair the reputation of the store.

Meanwhile, Sam had won Motorcycle Mechanic of the
Year through the Regional Occupational Program, a high
school-level program. In 1983 Sam was introduced to Myron
by his shop teacher and started working for Myron as a
mechanic.

By the late 1980s the moped trend was over. Myronretired and moved back to Costa Rica, and Sam took overthe business. Sam sold his ’ 57 Chevy pickup for $2000 as adown payment. At the time Sam was essentially homeless.His dad’s house had been foreclosed, and Sam was livingout of a 1962 pickup truck with a camper shell. He had agym membership so he could have a place to shower. Thelandlord let him park his pickup behind the store and runan extension cord out of the back of the shop. He was abusiness owner at age 21 living behind the shop. Talk aboutmotivation to make the business work!

His first year of business he only grossed $60,000.
With his passion and drive, 10 years later sales were up to
$800,000. He had learned to sell, provide great customer
service, and seek out what would bring in customers. He had
discovered a new trend and transitioned from mopeds to
Go-Ped gas-powered motorized scooters.

BEWARE THE DIPLOMA ON THE WALLWith his business booming, Sam incorporated, addeda vice president and had multiple stores, each with a storemanager. His managers all had MBAs and assured him hecould finally take some time off. He and his wife took off sixmonths for a vacation in Southeast Asia. Apparently, an MBAdoesn’t guarantee success, because upon his return, he dis-covered he was half a million dollars in debt. He literally had“Sam’s motto is that to properly set a customer up with a bike, they have to try many of them to seewhat they really like.”